Being a Kid

I’ve always been able to look back on my childhood as the best time of my life. My parents took me fishing, taught me to swim, and I was taught to read by my mother and my favorite aunt, Aunt Myrtle. Oh sure, I learned things in school too, but they were more of a social nature like developing friendships, avoiding bullies, stuff like that.

My reading skills opened the door to a world of excitement and fantasy, the comic books.  Some of my classmates were struck by the same lightning bolt and we became collectors of comics. We had no club or anything organized like that, but whenever we visited another collector on our bicycles we took along our some of our prized stash of comics, the traders.

We all looked forward to an active Saturday afternoon trading session. Our traders were comics new to our circle of friends, most likely treasures obtained from other collectors from away, a cousin or whatever. Any comic we hadn’t read many times was a must have, and it would be traded around the circle until no one wanted it any more. Then it would settle into the bottom of a collection, patiently waiting for the day that some trader from away might take it.

We learned a lot about commerce from our trading sessions. There was always bargaining. One prized comic might be traded for several lesser pulp fictions. All of this made up the economic, banking and monetary system of our circle. If we had realized the current value of some of those comics, we’d have understood interest rates and inflation as well.

Our photo shows Nelson Leuschner of West River, Antigonish County Nova Scotia, enjoying salmon fishing with his dad. I wonder if Nelson is into comics. Anyhow, the message is clear: Take a kid fishing!

Batman was (and still is) a great comic hero. This fly was tied as a tribute to that great caped crusader.  If you look closely, you’ll see Commissioner Gordon’s bat signal reaching into the sky to summon Batman. Since Batman had no special powers, he gave us hope that we too might grow up to be a Batman, or at least a Robin!

The Batman

Hook:              Modified Partridge Bartleet Traditional 2/0

Hook eye:       Braided mono dyed black

Tag:                 X-fine oval gold tinsel, Pumpkin floss

Tail:                 Golden pheasant crests dyed black

Butt:                 Ostrich herl

Rib:                  X-large oval gold tinsel

Body:              Blue floss

Underwing:     A pair of golden pheasant tippets dyed purple

Hackle:            Black hen saddle hackle

Wing:                           Married strips of black and blue goose flank with the black strips wider and the blue strips longer

Sides:              Jungle cock

Topping:         Golden pheasant crest dyed black

Horns:             Blue/yellow macaw

Head:              Black, with several coats of Anglers Corner Glossy Wet Head Cement

Please send comments and suggestions to slim@rivermagic.ca

Please stay on the line …